JTZ/f/^fj-Pfflf^^ 


ROMAJVCE  OF  YACHTING 


boijogc  tl)c  JTirst- 


liY  JOStl^li  C.  HART, 

AUTHOR    OF     "MIRIAM    COFFIN,"    &r 


N  E  W    Y  O  R  K  : 
HARPER   &   BROTHERS,   PIBLISIIERS, 

-:    (    LIFF   STREET.. 


TIIK    ANCIKXT   LF.TIIE. 


I  now  took  a  turn  alonnr  the  hanks  of  the  GuadalfU', 
•wliicli  <lisein))Ofrucs  into  the  hay  of  Cadiz  at  .St.  Mary's.  Ah 
I  liave  said,  it  is  the  ancient  Lethr  (corrupted  }>y  tliecoinni(.u 
Moorish  prefix,)  to  whose  waters  were  aserihcd  such  potent 
narcotic  (|uahtics,  tiiat  one  ncedeil  l)ut  to  hatlie  in  it,  or  to 
drink  of  its  floods,  to  be  steeped  or  seah^d  up  hermetically  in 
for«retfuhiess.  Wonderful  river  !  I  wandered  for  a  while 
on  its  shores,  thinkini;  over  its  history,  and  suffering  my 
mind  to  run  hack  throu^rh  tli(>  many  a;i;es  in  wliich  it  had  heeii 
almost  an  actor,  at  any  rate  a  pM»ive  s])ectat<>r  of  souie  o( 
tlie  most  interesting'  portions  of  tlie  history  of  man.  The 
little  river  hefore  lue  told  a  story  I'oi-  Spain,  the  pa!.'<'s  of 
whicli  extend  over  seven  hundred  years  of  her  hi-tory. 

Imleed,  uhere  can  vou  find  a  spot  of  ;^roiiiid  in  Sj)ain  th.it 
i<   iiot  full   of  classic  story  ?     Wherever  it   lacks  reality,  the. 
iuia;:iiiatio(»  of  tlu*  ]>oet   has  ])eoj)led   it  v.ith  celestial   heiii;:s, 
Hinl  eoverecl  it  with  heavenly  verilure.     The  lamed  (lanlens 
of  till-   lle-pcrides  wcro,  hy  some  writers,  placid  in  Spain, 


THE  ROMANCE  OF  VACHTINO. 


and  in  this  part  of  Andalusia.  And  why  not  ?  To  a  climate 
most  serene,  it  added  a  vegetation  of  unparalleled  richness, 
covering  the  country  and  filling  the  air  with  sweets  for  hun- 
dreds of  miles.  Some  ancient  writeTs  have  given  locality  to 
fixe  Ilcspcrides  in  Africa,  near  Tangier.  Others,  again,  have 
placed  them  upon  the  borders  of  the  Red  Sea — ""  IJetwixt 
wliich  Places,"  (saith  old  Purchas,  an  obsolete  historian,)  "  is 
such  a  World  of  Distance,  it  argueth  how  great  Errcurs  great 
SchoUars  may  fall  into,  by  Want  of  that  so  much  neglected 
Studie  of  Geographic,  without  which,  Historic,  that  delecta- 
ble Studie,  is  sick  of  a  half-dead  Palsic."  Admirable  his- 
torian !  Shakspeare  lived  about  the  same  time  with  Purchas, 
and  made  a  similar  blunder  in  his  reckoning,  (that  is,  if  ho 
wrote  the  play  attributed  to  him  containing  it,)  by  wrtckiug 
some  of  his  sailors  upon  the  "  sea-coast  of  Bohemia,''  no 
part  of  which  ever  touched  the  sea  by  at  least  a  hundred 
miles. 

It  is  worth  our  while,  si.nietiuies,  to  see  how  great  and 
learned  men,  (Pope  said  Sliakspean^  Avas  so.)  do  tn-at  tlitir 
subji'Ct-mattor  ;  anil,  thereforr,  I  transcribe  tlio  pa-;s:i|'t'  rr- 
ferred  to.  It  is  taken  fr(»ni  bis  "  Winter's  '{"ale,"  ;ind  is 
ahnost  the  only  portion  fi<'c  from  obscene  albi-^i<»n<.  ^'et.  in 
creating  this  play,  wliat  an  imagination  and  invention  be  nui^t 
h.ave  had — that  Swan  of  Avon  I  —  Kcce  signum  : 

'•  ScENF,   Ronr.MiA. —  A  tlc^cit  cotnitrv  mar  llie  •^oa. — IliiUr 
Aiiliirnriii«,  Willi  a  rliiM  :   nml  a  .Manner' 

'•Ant — Tlimi  ait  [icrfcrt  llicn.  our  slii))  liatli  lonrli.'d  ii|inti  [\,r 
(lesprts  of  RoliOinia  ' 

"  Mah. — Ay,  iny  Inr.l  :  ami  fear  we  Iiavp  lanj.vl  in  ill  tunc:  t!ip 
skies  look  grimly,  ami  tiireatcn  urcsent  hln-ior-* 


VOYAOC  THE  FIRtT. 


'•Ant. — Go  get  aboard  ;  look  to  thy  bark  ;  I'll  not  be  lonp  before  I 
rail  upon  thee. 

'•Mar. — Make  your  best  haste;  and  po  not  too  far  i'  the  land  :  'lis 
like  to  be  loud  weather;  bosidos  this  place  is  famous  for  tiie  creatures 
of  prey  that  kerj)  upon  't. 

'•  Knier  Shepherd  and  flown. 

'•('i.owN. — I  have  >vvn  two  such  sifjlit^  liy  sea  and  by  land  ; — but 
1  am  not  to  >ay  it  is  a  sea,  for  it  is  now  the  sky;  between  the  firma- 
ment and  it,  \<m  cannot  tlirn-l  a  bodkin's  point. 

"Siir.r. — Why.  boy.  Iikw  is  it  ' 

'•  Ci.owN  -  F  wouM  you  did  but  see  how  it  chafes,  how  it  ra2:e.s, 
hiiw  ii  t.ikes  to  the  shore  I  but  ih.il's  not  to  the  point:  O,  the  mO'-t 
))iteous  cry  oi  ih"  poor  souls'  sometimes  to  see  'em,  and  not  to  sec 
'em:  now  (he  ^Inp  boi  mi;  tin'  moon  with  her  mainmast;  and  anou 
•-wallowed  with  yi--t  and  tiuih.  as  vou'il  thru^'v  a  cork  into  a  lio^'  — 
iiead.  —  Hut  to  make  an  eiul  r»f  tjie  ship:  to  see  how  the  .sea  (la p- 
draironcd  it  :  but,  (ii>t,  Imw  the  jioor  ^<luU  roared,  and  the  sea  mockfd 
llieiii  :  -how  »h(;  prxir  ireiilb-man  roare<l,  aii'i  the  bear  mocked  him, 
t'litli  roarinir  loudir  tli.iii  the  sea  or  weallier.  The  men  are  not  y.'t 
CI'!  I  under  water.'' 

Oil,  Sli:iks|H';ifc — Iiinn(prt:i]  I»nnl — Mi;;lity  fronius — Swan 
(d'  .\vnii — tlioii  (  iiapproacliahlf  !  Aic  tliciv  iio  more  fish,  no 
tiinrc  krakfiis  in  tli;it  \\iiiiili'iiiis  sra  IVoin  wliicli  thou  wort 
taken  I      Sliall  tlicir  lie  iiu  inuic  caki's  ;iiiil  ale  ? 

Ilnw  j.riiiic  tlif  l^iiLrli-li  |if<i|.lc  ;ii-f  to  kill  nfl"  tliclr  rrvt.':)t 
m.i'M  I  'rii'V  fif.-t  raise  tlieiii  iip  Im  the  lolti(--t  yiiiinaclo  of 
raiiic,  ami  then,  like  tlie  <'a;,'le  witli  tlie  toi  toi.^e,  or  tlie  mon- 
key wliicli  iiioiints  tlie  liiL'liest  tree  with  lii.s  coco;i-init,  they 
•  lash  their  victinis  '*  all  to  pieces"  upon  the  rocks  hcluw. 
'riiiis,  al-o,  lliev  jihiy  the  lmhk'  of  nine-pins  with  all  their  ^reat 
statonien.      '1,'hi'y  :jct  them  up,  ay,  '*  set  thcui  up,  my  boy  !" 


THE  ROMANCE  OK   lAUMllNO. 


for  the  pleasure  of  knocking  them  down.  And  tlicn,  again, 
they  drink  to  the  full,  at  the  Castalian  fount,  and  the  incli- 
nation is  irresistible  to  demolish  the  vessel  that  has  served 

them  : 

"  Sweet  the  pleasure 

After  drinking — to  break  glasses  !" 

It  is  thus  they  have  raised  up  Shakspeare  ;  and  now  they  arc 
demolishing  him,  witliout  remorse. 

Was  he  not,  in  our  own  time,  the  "  unapproachable,''  tlic 
''undying,"  the  "immortal  bard,""  the  "  not  for  a  day  but 
f«j^-  all  time,"  the  "  glorious,"  the  "■  sweet  swan  of  Avon," 
the  "  poet  of  true  genius  and  invention,"  the  ''  modest,"  the 
"  heaven-born,"  the  "  creator,"  the  "  poet  of  all  climes,"  the 
bard  who  "  stole  the  Promethean  fire,"  the  "  glass  of  fashion 
and  the  mould  of  form,"  the  ""man  on  whom  each  god  did 
seem  to  set  his  seal,"  in  short  the  "  top-saw3'er"  of  all  the 
poetical  geniuses  of  all  ages  ?  Ay,  all  tliis,  and  much  more. 
But  where  is  he  now  ?  Alas  ! — where  ?  1  (ow  the  gliosts  of  old 
authors  would  pitch  into  him,  among  the  Infernals,  if  Dante 
had  to  do  Avith  him  ! 

After  "  the  bard"  had  been  d(»ad  for  one  jiundred  years 
and  utterly  forgotten,  a  player  and  a  writer  of  the  succeed- 
ing century,  turning  over  the  old  lumber  of  a  theatrical 
"  proper t}' room,"  find  bushels  of  neglected  plays,  and  the 
idfa  (tf  a  "  speculation"  occurs  to  them.  They  dig  at  haz- 
ard and  promiscuously,  and  disentomb  the  literary  remains 
of  many  a  "  Wit"  of  a  former  centtiry,  educated  men,  men 
of  mind,  graduates  of  universities,  yH  starving  at  the  <lo(ir 
of  some  theatre,  Avhih'  their  plays  are  'u\  the  hand>  of  an 
i^^norant  and  scurvy  manager,  awaiting  his  awftd  fiat.     They 


VOVAOE  THE  FIRST. 


die  in  poverty,  and  some  of  absolute  starvation.  Still  tlioir 
pliiys,  to  the  ainoniit  of  Imndrcds,  remain  in  the  hands  of  the 
nianaf»er,  an<l  hocdUK'  in  some  way  or  other  his  "  property/' 
A  '*  factotum"  is  kept  to  revise,  to  strike  out,  to  refit,  revamp, 
interpolate,  disfiijure,  to  <lo  any  tiling  to  please  the  vul«,'ar 
a)ul  vieious  taste  of  the  nuiltitude.  No  play  will  succeed, 
without  it  is  well  peppered  with  vulgarity  and  obscenity. 
'I'lie  "'  property -rot  )m"  becomes  lumbered  to  repletion  with 
the  cflorts  of  fjenius.  It  was  the  fashion  of  the  day  for  all 
lifcrorv  nuii  to  write  for  the  theatre.  There  was  no  other 
way  to  u;(..  tlxir  pv(tductions  licfore  the  world.  In  the  process 
of  time,  thr  liraiiis  of  the  "  factotum,"  teeminf»  with  smut 
and  ovrrflo\viii<r  all  the  wliih-  with  prurient  obseeiiity,  the 
theatre  beeonie<<  indicted  for  a  nuisance,  or  it  is  sou;:;ht  to  be 
"  avoidetl"  by  the  nia;_'islra te>  for  its  evil  and  immoral  t<'n- 
deney.  'I'lie  mana;xers  are  forced  to  retire  ;  and  one,  who 
"owns  all  the  properties,"  leaves  t!ie  hundre<ls  of  ori;:inal  or 
interpolated  ]>lays  to  the  usual  fate  of  nrairet  lumber,  some 
y\\\\\  the  siij»]posed  iiitir/i-  of  liis  ""  ^ri'Miiis""  upon  them.  They 
are  iivch •->,  to  him.  for  he  is  !i  playi-r  and  a  manatrer  no  lon^^er. 
A  huiidreil  years  pass,  and  they  and  their  reputed  "owner'" 
are  l'nr;.''otteii,  and  so  are  the  ]>oets  who  wrote  and  starved 
npiiii  tin  111.  Then  eonus  the  resurrection — "  tm  sjHcuhilion.'*'' 
netterioii  the  playi-r,  and  Kowe  the  writer,  make  a  selection 
from  a  promiscuous  heaj)  of  plavs  found  in  a  garret,  name- 
less as  t«i  authorship.  '"  I  want  a  liero  !"  said  Myron,  when 
he  eonnnenced  a  certain  poem.  "  I  want  an  author  for  this 
selection  of  plays  !"  said  Kowe.  "  I  have  it  !"  sai<I  Het- 
tcrton  ;  "'  call  tlu-ui  Shakspeare's  V  And  Kowe,  the  "•' com- 
nientator,"  commenced  to  ])ufl'  them  as  "  the  bard's,''  and 


THE  ROMANCE  OF  TACHTINO. 


to  write  a  history  of  his  hero  in  which  there  was  scarcely  a 
■word  that  had  the  foundation  of  truth  to  rest  upon. 

Tliis  is  about  tlie  sum  and  substance  of  the  mannc  jf  set- 
ting up  Shakspeare  :  and  the  manner  of  pulling  him  down, 
may  be  gathered  from  the  succeeding  commentators — not  ono 
of  whom,  perhaps,  dreamed  of  such  a  possibility  while  he  was 
trying  to  immortalize  his  idol.  Hut  each  one,  as  they  suc- 
ceeded one  another,  thought  it  necessary  to  outdo  his  prede- 
cessor in  learning  and  reseaveli,  and  <levelope<l  some  start- 
ling anti<|uarian  fact,  wliieh,  by  aecuniulatit»n,  worked  the 
light  of  truth  out  of  darkness,  until,  one  after  the  other,  the 
leaves  of  the  chapiet,  woven  for  Shakspeare  "the  immortal," 
^  .1,  withered,  to  the  ground  ;  his  monument,  high  as  huge 
Olympus,  crumbles  into  dust  ;  and  his  apotheosis  vani>lie8 
into  thin  air. 

Alas,  Shakspeare!  Lethe  i<  upon  thee  !  Ibit  if  it  drown 
ihccy  it  will  give  up  anil  work  the  resurrection  of  hittir  mrn 
and  mnrr  irort/ii/.  Tliou  lia^t  had  tliy  century  ;  tliey  are 
about  having  theirs. 

"  A  singular  and  nnaceoMiitalile  mystery,"  say-^  Kees,  '•  is 
attached  to  Shak>|)eare's  private  lil'e  ;  .-iiiil.  by  !-t.ine  strange 
fatality,  almost  every  document  ei'iH-erning  him  has  either 
been  (lestmyed  or  still  remains  in  olixiiritv. 

"  TIk'  firs/  published  memoir  of  him  was  drawn  tip  by 
Jficholns  Howe  in  IT*'*.',  nearly  one  hundreil  ^car-^  aftei-  the 
decease  of  the  poet,  and  the  materials  f'T  tlii>:,  were  fiiiiii^beil 
by  lictlcrlnn  the  player. 

"  And  it  is  not  a  little  reniiirkabje,  tli:it  .bin^nn  seem-;  to 
iiave  maintained  a  liigliei-  plaee  in  the  estimation  of  the  piili- 
lic  in  treneral,  than  our  poet,  (S|i,ilv-|...air.)  fur  more  tlian  a 


V07A0E  THE  FIRST. 


century  after  the  death  of  the  hitter.  Within  that  period 
Jonson's  works  arc  said  to  have  passed  tlirou^di  several  edi- 
tions, and  to  liave  })een  read  with  avidity,  Avhilc  Shakspearc's 
were  comparative! v  nefrlected  till  the  time  of  Rowe. 

"  At  the  time  of  his  l)ec(»miii<;  in  some  (U';;rec  a  public 
character,  we  naturally  e:^pected  to  find  many  anecdotes 
recordetl  of  his  /if<rari/  history:  but,  stran;];('  to  sa}',  the 
same  destitution  of  authentic  incidents  marks  every  stage  of 
his  life. 

'*  Kvcn  the  date  at  wliieh  his  first  play  appeared  is 
unkjiown  ;  an<l  the  greatest  lujcertainty  prevails  in  respect 
to  the  ehn)nf)lo;rical  order  in  which  the  whole  series  were 
written,  exhibited,  or  puVilishcil.''' 

Shakspoare  was  b(»rn  <>n  the  "J^M  of  April,  l.")()4,  and  die<l 
on  the  'I'^A  <if  April,  ItlltJ.  His  aije  was  therefore  'yl  years 
at  the  time  of  liis  dentil.  In  l.")S'.t  he  luul  been  some  tim(^ 
it  is  suppostMl  about  four  years,  in  London.  In  the  latter  year 
he  was  one  of  the  1«I  shareholders  in  the  "•  HIaek-friars  '' 
'riieatri',  his  name  bein;^  the  liith  on  the  list.  In  1»)03 
his  name  a|)|»ears  amon;^  others  in  a  lieense  of  Janii's  I.,  to 
perform  not  merely  in  Ltmdon  but  in  any  part  of  the 
kiiiL'ddiii. 

"  llir-'-  aetov.-,"  says  a  eonnnentator,  ""  rendered  them- 
selves ju>tlv  iiKiiuxious  to  tlie  'iti/ciis  of  L(tndon  by  their 
satirical,  we  ml;:lit  truly  >ay,  their  licentious  rej)ivsenta- 
tions." 

""  The  wisdom  of  nieii  and  the  fidelity  of  women,''  were 
o|ici'ly  anil  waut<nily  attacked  on  the  sta^e. 

''  A  com[)laint  was  formally  made  to  the  royal  council  " 
:iccordin^dy. 


THE  ROMANCE  OF  FACHTfNO 


Instead  of  abating  the  nuisance  at  once,  a  petition  is 
received  from  the  managers,  and  entertained  by  the  authori- 
ties having  charge  of  tlie  comphiint.  Compensation  for 
the  estabhshment  threatened  with  demoHtion,  and  for  its 
''properties,"  is  prayed  fur  with  earnestness,  and  a  ncgd- 
tiation  en.sues,  in  the  course  of  which  the  I'olluwing  facts 
appear. 

In  an  estimate  "  for  avoiding  the  plav-house  in  tlic  pre- 
cinct of  the  BhickfiiiMs/'  or  ahaliiig  it  as  a  nui>aiioe,  the 
following  item  occurs. 

*'  IiKM.  W.  SI)akes])oare  asketh  for  the  wnrdrohc  and 
properties  of  the  same  play-house,  .')i)0/.,  and  for  his  iour 
shares  tlie  same  as  his  fellowes,  liurbidge  and  Fletcher,  viz. 
l»;33/.  Ga-.  Sr/.— CU-IM.  (Iv.  Sf/." 

Ilcminges  &.  Conth'll  had  each  two  j^hares  ;  ,Jt»s('pIi  Tay- 
lor oiie  share  and  a  half;  Lowing  one  shaii'  and  a  lii'li; 
and  "  Foin-u  imu'e  j)laytres  \\ith  onehalfe  share  to  eehe  of 
them  :" — '\\>U\\  l'<>  shares. 

''.Moreover  the  hired  men  of  the  eoinpanie  ilfniannd  some 
reeonipen>e  for  their  gnat  losse,  and  tin'  ^^illl^\vs  and 
orjihanes  of  playeres,  who  are  paiile  liv  the  sharers,  at 
divtre.s  rates  and  propurtinns,  so  a<  in  the  wln'li-  it  will  eusto 
the  L<i.  Mayor  and  the  citizens  at  the  lea<t  T"'"'/."' 

Fl'nm  this  dt)eument    the    material    fact    is    oKtaineil,    that 

Sliakspeare  was    the  mrnt  r   ot"  all    the   ''' /tro/h  rfiis"  ni'  the 

rinatic,  wliieh  imlildes  the  /t/iii/.\-  pos-c-^cd  hv  the  estalilish- 

nitnt.       Tiny  iiiu>t  neces^arilv  lia\e  lieen  \rrv  ntiMKiou-i,    as 

will  be  made  manife>t  bv  what  sliortlv  fnlUnv-. 

"  Of  Shakspearc's  youth  we  know  nothing,"  savs  one  coni- 
mcutator. 


\i>\  A<iK   TliK   IlllM 


"  Of  Shakppcarc\s  la>t  years  avc  know  absolutely  nothiii<:," 
says  another. 

"  The  whole,  however,''  nays  Alexander  Chaluiers,  eeni- 
iiientin^  upon  R<jue,  Malone  and  Slceveiis*  labored  allenipts 
to  Ibllow  Shakspraie  in  his  eareer,  '^^  is  unsatisfactory. 
Shakspearc  in  his  ])rivatc  character,  in  his  friendships, 
in  his  anniseuicnts,  in  his  closet,  in  his  family,  is  nuw/ure 
before  us/'' 

Yet  notwithstamlinj;  all  this  ni3'sterv,  and  the  absence  of 
any  positive  inlbrniation,  learned  and  voluminous  commenta- 
tors aiitl  bio;rraphers,  in  (jreat  luimbers,  have  been  led  to 
sii/)/tiisr  and  tt\.s(  rf  a  tliou^and  thin^^s  in  re;]jard  to  Shak- 
speare's  history,  jmrsuits  and  attainments,  which  cannot  be 
sulistantiated  by  a  jtartich-  of  proof.  Anion;;  these  is  the 
initliorsliij)  of  the  plays  ^q-oii])ed  uu'ler  his  name,  -whieli  they 
assume  its  his  for  a  certainty  and  beyond  dispute.  This 
e;;re;;ious  folly  is  be^innin;:;  to  leaet  upon  those  who  have 
been  enjLra;:ed  in  it.  and  some  of  them  are  placed  in  a  very 
ridieultjus  position — es])'>cially  Pope  the  poet,  who,  on  the 
score  of  the  supposed  ;];reat  learnini;;  of  Shakspeare,  has  cou- 
tributeil  not  a  little  to  the  delusion  concerning;  him. 

A  writer  in  Lardner's  Cabinet  Cyclop«jedia  undertakes  to 
;;ive  us  the  hi>tory  of  his  family  ;  from  which  I  gather  that 
John  Sliak.-peare,  th«'  father  of  William,  was  very  poor  and 
very  illiterate,  hntwithstandini;  what  the  ambitious  eonnuen- 
tators  may  say  to  the  eontrary.  S(j  says  Lardner,  and  he 
))r<>ves  it  beyond  dispute.  The  coat  of  arms  and  the  Iier- 
aldiy  obtained  for  the  family,  afterwards,  was  procured  by 
iVaud  :  and  the  ]>roeee<lin^  is  pronounc<'d  discreditable  to 
"  the  bard"'  who  had  u  hani.1  in  it.     But  the  poverty  of  the 


THE  ROMANCE  OF  TACHTINO. 


family  is  nothing  in  this  case,  oxcopt  to  show  that  William 
Shakspeare  must  necessarily  have  been  an  uneducated  boy. 
He  grew  up  in  ignorance  and  viciousness,  and  became  a 
common  poacher — and  the  latter  title,  in  literary  matters,  ho 
carrie<i  to  his  grave.  He  was  not  the  mate  of  the  literary 
characters  of  the  daj',  and  no  one  knew  it  better  than  him- 
self. It  is  a  fraud  upon  the  world  to  thrust  his  surreptitious 
fame  upon  us.  He~had  none  that  was  worthy  of  beiiip:  trans- 
mitted. The  enquiry  Avill  be,  u'ho  icere  the  able  literary 
vien  who  tcrote  the  dramas  imputed  to  him  ?  The  pbiys 
themselves,  or  rather  a  small  portion  of  them,  will  live  as 
long  as  English  literature  is  regarded  worth  pursuit.  The 
muthorship  of  the  plays  is  no  otherwise  material  to  us,  than  as  a 
matter  of  curiosity  and  to  enable  us  to  render  exact  justice  ; 
but  they  should  not  be  assigned  to  Shakspeare  alone,  if 
at  all. 

From  the  Cabinet  Cyclopocdia  already  roforrod  to,  con- 
ducted by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Lardner,  assisted  by  eminent  Lite- 
rary and  Scientific  men,  \'ol.  :?,  London  edi(ion,  18.S7,  we 
may  gather  many  particulars  concerning  this  subject,  which 
I  have  condensed  below. 

The  writer  commences  by  observing  tli:it  our  ancient 
Drama  is,  indeed,  a  rich  mine  ;  but  the  dross  outweighs  the 
ore  ii  the  proportion  of  at  least  a  thousand  to  one.  A  per- 
son may  dig  long  days  before  he  discovers  anything  worth 
the  t  -ouble  of  pi(  king  up. 

Of  the  stage  ami  dr.iiiiiitic  writers  immediately  preceili'ig 
the  appearance  of  Sliakspe.-ire,  and  eotempuraneouslv  witli 
him,  the  writer  observes  : — 

The  custom  indeed  of  later  dramatists — Shakspeare  amona: 


VOVAGE  THE  FIRST. 


the  rest — was  to  adopt  old  pieces  as  the  bases  of  their  labors, 
to  add  or  curtail,  to  condense  or  expand,  as  nii^^t  seem  best 
suited  to  the  time. 

The  tragedy  of  Tancred  and  Gismundy  which  was  exhib- 
ited (1568)  before  Elizabeth,  at  the  Inner  Temple,  was  the 
first  play  in  our  language  founded  on  an  Italian  -^-iginal  : — 
t.  source  soon  to  become  fruitful  enough.  It  was  taken  from 
one  of  Boccaccio's  nDvels,  and  was  the  composition  of  five 
different  persona. 

Another  play,  The  J)Iisforfuncs  of  .Arthur,  was  written 
by  Thomas  Hughes,  and  seven  other  persons,  one  of  w^hom 
was  Lord  Bacon, 

The  Yorkshire  Tragedy  some  critics  have  not  hesitated  to 
ascribe  to  Shakspcare,  and  also  many  others  which  he  prob- 
ably never  heard  of  even  by  name.  Two  plays,  notoriously 
not  his,  were  published  with  his  name  on  the  title-page  in  his 
life-time,  and  no  effort  appears  to  have  been  made  on  his  part 
to  set  the  matter  right. 

It  is  evident  that  the  intellectual  activity,  so  couipicuous 
in  the  h.tter  half  of  the  sixteenth  century,  has  never  been 
surpassed.  We  (the  writer  continues)  have  already  alluded 
to  fifty-tii'o  picc<*s,  of  which  no  vestige  now  remains,  unless 
the  substanee  of  them  lives  in  njore  recent  ])roductions  :  and 
these  arose  and   i'ell  in  twelve  years,  vi/.  from  l.llJM  to  1580. 

That  the  later  years  were  not  le>s  ■{)rolific,  may  be  proved 
by  the  instances  of  Anthony  .Muuday,  Henry  Chettle,  Robert 
(Jrcene,  C'ristt»pher  Marlowe,  (Jeorge  Peele,  and  i>tliers,  who 
■wrote  innuuieraMe  dranias,  tiiougii  most  of  tlieui  have  not 
come  iliiwn  to  ouu  ilays. 

But  the  most  ssiriking  illustration  of  this  subject  is  afforded 


THt  ROMANCE  OF  VACIITINO. 


by  the  fact  that  from  1591  to  1597  one  hundred  and  ten  new 
pieces  were  performed,  and  that  from  1597  to  1603,  one 
hundred  and  sixty  more  Avere  added  to  the  list.  This  places 
at  least  270  manuscript  plays  in  the  absolute  possession  of 
the  theatre  at  the  time  Shakspeare  was  one  of  its  managers, 
and  the  owner  of  its  "  properties." 

We  have  now  arrived  (sa3-s  the  writer)  at  Shakspeare's 
dramatic  cotemporaries — men  who  be<Tan  to  write  before  he 
did,  who  not  only  lived  at  the  same  time,  but  divided  with 
him  the  attention  of  the  play-going  world. 

Rol)ert  Greene  is  mentioned,  who,  at  one  time,  was  one  of 
th«  Queen's  chaplains,  and  had  taken  the  Master's  degree 
at  a  University.  It  was  suflicient  for  tho  world  to  know  that 
he  was  a  popular  writer. 

In  a  letter  which  Greene  wrote  in  his  last  illness,  in  fact 
on  his  death-bed,  to  his  boon-companions  and  brother  play- 
writers,  or  dramatists,  as  they  were  called,  Marlowe,  Lodge, 
and  Peele,  appears  the  first  autlieutic  information  mc  have 
of  Shakspeare's  literary  thievery.  The  youthful  propensity 
for  stealing  deer  and  game,  which  drove  him  from  Stratford, 
seems  to  have  remained  in  the  bone  and  ripened  into  a  con- 
firmed habit. 

"  To  those  gentlemen"  the  letter  of  the  dying  Greene 
begins,  "  his  luondam  acquaintance,  that  spend  their  wit  m 
making  plays,  Robert  Greene  wishoth  a  better  exoreis(\ 
Wonder  not,  (for  with  thee  will  I  first  begin,)  thou  fnninus 
gracer  of  tragedies,"  &.c.  This  allusion  is  to  Marlowe. 
"  With  thee,"  continues  Green(\  ''''  I  join  young  Juvenal, 
(Lodge)  that  biting  satirist,  that  Justly  with  me  together 
writ  a  comedy.     Might  I  advise  thee,"  &c.     The  letter  then 


▼OYAOI.  THE  FIRST. 


proceeds,  "  And  thou  no  less  deserving  than  the  other  two, 
(Pcele)  in  some  things  rarer,  in  nothing  inferior,  driven  (like 
ni^'self)  to  extreme  shifts,"  &c. — ''  Base  minded  men,  all 
three  of  you,  if  by  my  misery  ye  be  not  warned ;  for  unto 
none  ol'  you,  like  me,  sought  those  burs  to  cleave — those  pup- 
pets, '.  mean,  that  speak  from  our  mouths — those  antics 
garnislied  in  our  colors.  Is  it  not  strange  that  I,  to  whom 
they  a  1  have  been  beholding,  shall  be  left  of  them  at  once 
forsaken?  Yes,  trust  them  not;  for  there  is  an  upstart 
croir^  iteautijied  xoith  our  feathers^  that  with  \i\Btiger^s  heart 
wrapt  in  a  player'' s  hide.,  supposes  he  is  as  well  able  to  bom- 
bast out  a  blank  verse  as  the  best  of  3'ou  !  And,  being  an 
absolme  Jo/tn  Factotuynj  is,,  in  his  own  conceit,  the  ouly 
Shake- scejie  in  a  country.  Oh  that  I  might  entreat  your  rare 
wits  tc  be  employed  in  more  profitable  courses :  and  let  these 
apes  imitate  your  past  excellence,  and  never  more  acquaint 
them  with  your  admiied  inventions." 

By  the  '•'■  upstart  crow,  beautified  with  our  feathers,"  and 
''  he  is,  in  his  own  conceit,  the  only  Shake-scene  in  a  coun- 
try," a  Mr.  Tynvhitt  thinks,  (and  the  facts  prove  it,)  Shak- 
epeare  is  meant. 

The  couinientator  then  proceeds  :  "  But  in  what  manner, 
the  ini|iiisitive  reader  may  en(|uire,  was  Shakspeare  indebted 
to  Greene  and  his  ilramatic  frieiuls  ?  To  understand  the 
subject  more  clearly,  we  must  observe,  that  in  the  beginning 
of  his  (ShaksjJeare's)  career, ^br  years  indeed,  after  he  became 
connected  icith  the  stage,  that  extraordinary  [?J  man  was 
satisfied  with  reconstructing  the  pieces  wliich  others  had  com- 
posi'd;  he  was  not  the  author,  but  the  adapter  of  ihcirx  to  the 
Btage.     Indeed,  we  are  of  opinion  that  the  number  of  plays 


THE  KOBIANCE  OF  TACHTINO. 


which  he  thus  recast^^as  well  as  those  in  which  he  made  very 
slight  alterations,  is  greater  than  any  of  his  commentators 
have  supposed.^' 

"  The  second  and  third  parts  of  King  Henry  VI.  were,  we 
all  know,  founded  on  two  old  pieces,  viz.,  '  The  two  famotis 
Houses  of  Yorke  and  Lancaster^''  and  '  The  true  Tragedie  of 
Richarde  Duke  of  Yorke. ^  Hence  the  allusion  of  Greene 
has  been  thought  confirmatory  of  the  suspicion  that  he  or 
some  of  his  friends  had  written  one,  at  least,  of  these  trage- 
dies ;  and  that  Shakspeare,  more  suo^  [and  a  manner  pecu- 
liar to  himself  it  turns  out  to  be,]  had  adapted  them  to  the 
stage.  This  may  very  well  have  been  the  case ;  and  it  is 
also  probable  that  Greene  may  allude  to  another  fable  of  his, 
which  the  bard  of  Avon  dramatised.  '  The  Winter's  TaW 
is  entirely  founded  on  '  Pandosto^  or  the  Triumph  of  Time^'* 
which  Greene  published  in  1588.  Sufl5cient  is  the  fact,  that 
the  play  scrupulously  follows  the  tale,  so'  closely,  indeed,  as 
to  make  Bohemia  a  maritime  country,  and  vessels  to  reach 
the  capital. 

"  But  this  is  not  all : — Sixteen,  at  least,  of  the  dramas 
ascribed  to  Shakspeare,  are,  beyond  alt  question,  derived  from 
more  ancient  pieces  .'" 

Thtre  were  also  "  Six  Old  Plays,''''  on  which  Shakspeare 
founded  his  Measure  for  Measure — Corned v  of  Krrors — 
Taming  the  Shrew — King  John — King  Henry  IV. — Kin;; 
Henry  V. — and  King  Lear.  They  were  afterwards  gath- 
ered into  two  volumes  and  published  in  London  in  1771>. 

"  Marlowe  is  positively  said  by  riialmers  t<>  have  written 
*  The  true  Tragedy  of  Richard  Duke  of  Yorke,''  which 
Shakspeare  remodelled  and  transferred  into  one  of  the  parts 


VOTAOE  THE  rni8T. 


cf  Henry  VI.  He  may  also  have  written,  (bo  says  the  com- 
mentator,) the  History  of  Henry  the  Sixthj  and  The  whole 
contention  between  the  two  famous  Houses  Lancaster  and 
York.  All  three  were  in  existence  before  Shakspcare  began 
to  write  for  the  stage,  and  his  (Shakspeare's)  additions  are 
few." 

Thomas  Kyd  was  the  author  of  two  plays,  one  called  at 
first  Jeronimo,  and  afterwards  The  Spanish  Tragedy.  Some 
additions  were  made  to  this  play,  after  the  author's  death, 
by  no  less  a  writer  than  Ben  Jonson.  "  These  additions 
were  considered  of  greater  value  tlian  the  original.  The 
fable  of  the  tragedy  is  not  founded  in  history  :  it  is  entirely 
a  creation.  A  resemblance  between  this  play  and  the  Ham- 
let attributed  to  8hak8[>care  has  been  discovered.  In  both  a 
ghost  appears  to  urge  revenge  on  the  procrastinating  relative  ; 
in  both  tliere  is  a  play  within  a  play.  It  shows  that  Shak- 
spcare was  not  so  mucii  a  creator  as  is  supposed.  He  was 
frequently  satisfied  with  improving  the  conceptions  of  otiiers." 

Henslowe,  as  we  find  in  his  old  Diary,  recently  dug  ap 
from  obscurity,  paid  the  sum  of  X  .v.  (probably  for  refresh- 
ments) to  Drayton,  Wilson,  Munday  and  Hathaway,  the  joint 
authors  of  thu  play  of  '"  Sir  John  Oldcast/e,"''  after  its  first 
performance.  This  play  was  printed  as  one  of  Shakspeare's, 
and  is  the  original  of  all  the  ''  Sir  John  Falstaffs''  improperly 
said  to  be  the  creations  of  Shakspcare. 

There  were  four  partners,  as  it  appears,  in  the  above  play, 
oO  pertinaciously  claimed  fir  Shakspcare  from  its  '^  infernal 
rrirfrhff,-'  upon  which  those,  who  have  imposed  the  Shak- 
spearian  frau<l  upon  us,  always  aflfect  to  rely.  They  know 
Shakspcare  bv  instinct ! 


THE  ROMANCE  OF  TACHTINO. 


Drayton,  Chettle  and  Decker  wrote  the  "  Famous  Wars 
of  Henry  I." 

Ben  Jonson  and  Decker  wrote  the  "  Page  of  Plymoutli," 
for  which  the  very  highest  price  of  that  day  was  given,  namely 
eleven  pounds. 

Ttese  facts  I  gather  from  Henslowe  :  and  it  appears  from 
another  authority  that  Beaumont  and  Fletcher  wrote  in  con- 
junction, or  in  partnership  ;  one  furnishing  the  funds  and  the 
other  the  brains.  This  was  the  taste  of  the  age.  During 
the  last  thirteen  years  of  Elizabeth's  reign,  and  during  all 
that  of  James  I.,  partnerships  of  two,  three,  or  four,  and 
even  five  writers,  in  the  same  dramatic  piece,  were  more 
common  than  single  laboi-s  of  the  kind.  One  authority  assorts 
that  Shakspeare  wrote  in  that  way.  It  is  very  likely.  We 
can  easily  discover  the  part  he  wrote  by  its  filth.  By  that 
mark  you  may  invariably  know  where  his  hand  has  been  at 
v,ork. 

Cartwright,  who  wrote  thirty  years  after  Shakspeare's 
death,  is  the  only  early  writer  who  has  said  any  thing  of 
Shakspeare's  peculiar  (|uality  ;  that  (juality  for  which  alone 
lie  is  celebrated,  nanu'Iy,  vulgarity  ainl  "(il)seone  wit." 
Here  is  the  only  true  and  tangibh'  record  of  Shakspearf'H 
character,  as  an  author,  e.\tant,  written  by  one  almost  his 
cotempovary : 

"  Shakspe.irp,  wliosc  best  jest  lies 
r  the  lady's  questions  ami  tlie  fool's  replies; 
Whose  wit  our  nicer  tunes  would  olnccnene.ss  call, 
And  which  made  ihe  bairdry  \r,i>s  lor  comirnl ^ 

The  whole  literary  history  of  Shakspeare  is  thus  written, 
without  compression,  in  four  lines. 


VOYAGE  THE  FIRST. 


George  Peele  was  one  of  the  persons  to  whom  Greene  ad- 
dressed his  impressive  farewell  letter.  '*  And  thou,  no  less 
deserving  than  the  other  two"  (Marlowe  and  Lodge).  He 
took  his  degree  at  Oxford  in  l')77.  He  is  the  author  of 
"  The  famous  Chronick  History  of  King  Edward  the  First," 
which  Shakspcare  is  supposed  to  have  borrowed  "  more  suo.^^ 
He  also  wrote  "  The  Old  Wivc's  Tale,"  from  which  Milton 
borrowed  his  "Comus."  Nash  calls  Peele  an  "Atlas  in 
poetry  ;"  and  Thomas  Campbell  sa^'s  of  him  that  "  we  may 
justly  cherish  the  memory  of  Peele  as  the  oldest  genuine  dra- 
matic poet  of  our  language." 

Henry  Chettle  died  in  IGIO.  He  was  concerned  in  38 
plays  within  the  short  space  of  seven  years. 

'J'liomas  Lodge,  who  died  in  1(>2<),  was  a  voluminous  writer. 
He  is  the  ''Juvenal"  to  whom  Greene  refers  in  his  letter. 
Loilgo  deserves  to  Ix;  knoAvn  and  remembered  from  the  fact 
that  one  of  his  works,  "  i?o.va///u/r,"  was  pirated  by  Shak- 
spcare, and  forms  the  basis  of  "  .'Is  You  Like  It.^^  It  is 
more  than  likely  that  it  is  the  same  play. 

The  facts  above  stated  will  serve  to  illustrate  the  state  of 
tlie  Drama  when  the  commentators  suppose  Shakspcare  to 
have  flourished  as  a  writer.  There  were  ample  materials, 
certiiinly,  for  a  person  of  tlie  very  moderate  talents  he  pos- 
sessed, autl  the  pirating  propensity  he  evinced,  to  luxuriate 
in.  They  will  also  account  for  the  circumstance,  that  puzzles 
all  his  biographers,  namely,  that  he  should  have  left  no  record 
of  his  literary  labors.  With  many  of  these  dramatic  cotem- 
poraries  around  him,  I  suppose  it  would  have  been  dangerous 
to  claim  their  labors  as  his  own  which  afterwards  were  attri- 
buted to  him. 


THE  ROMANCE  OF  YACHTrXO. 


"  The  indifference  of  cotemporarics,  and  even  the  genera- 
tions after  his  death,  (observes  one  commentator,)  to  the 
•personal  history  of  Shakspcare,  has  often  been  matter  of 
astonishment.  Nobody,  indeed,  so  much  as  cared  for  the 
knowledge.  Sir  William  Dugdalo,  a  native  of  Coventry, 
about  twenty  miles  from  Stratford  upon  Avon,  -who  published 
the  antiquities  of  Warwickshire,  thirty  years  only  after  tho 
poet's  death,  and  who  might  liave  seen  a  score  of  persons  once 
familiar  with  him,  did  not  trouble  himself  to  make  a  single 
enquiry  on  the  subject.  Fuller  was  equally  careless.  Kd- 
ward  Phillips,  author  of  Theatrum  Pocfaruin,  just  conde- 
scends to  mention  such  a  man.  Langbainc,  and  Blount,  and 
Gildon  copy  their  predecessors.  Anthony  a  Wo.nl,  one  of 
the  most  industrious  writers  England  ever  produce  1,  who  was 
born  only  fourteen  years  after  Shak;  oeare's  decease,  and  who 
hved  within  thirty-six  miles  of  the  place  where  so  much 
information  might  have  been  obtained,  has  not  a  syllable 
about  the  dramatist,  though  he  found  room  for  manv  other 
writ''rs  who  never  saw  Oxford.  Kven  Sliaks])eare's  ianiily 
might  have  been  consulted.  In  short  there  never  was  a  ]>(  r- 
son  of  wliom  more  might  /lavt;  heen^  of  Avhom  so  little  vas 
collected,  until  the  attempt  was  vain.  Whence  arose  this 
indiflcrence  ?■" 

Had  thee<litor  w^  >  furnishes  the  foregoing  extract,  recurred 
to  his  own  writings,  immediately  before  him,  lie  might  easily 
liave  found  the  reason  for  th(>  indiflerenee  he  eoinplains  of. 
He  has  told  us  prettily  satisfactorily  where  nearlv  all  tlic 
Shakspcare  (not  S/ia/cspeare's)  ])Iay<  eame  from  originallv  ; 
and  it  is  hardl\  to  be  expccte<l  that  a  man  who  merely  adapte*! 
r  .her  people'.'-  works  to  the  playinn;  sfarc,  like  a  'J'heatrical 


■'^.A'lK  THE  MRST. 


Factotum,  as  Greene  calls  him,  (and  he  was  nothing  else,)  is 
worthy  of  any  furtlier  remembrance   tlian   such   fact  would 
warrant.     He  has   ^hown   us  conclusively  that  he   scarcely 
deserves  the  name  of  duf/ior.      But  the  lame  answer  of  this 
editor,  insulting  to  the  intellis^ence  of  the  age  about  which  ho 
writes,  is  as  follows  :  *'  The  causo>^  of  this  neglect  arc  obvious. 
The  frreat  body  of  readers  are  inrapabh  of  compichending 
a  master,'*'*     How  would  this  writer  rank   Bon  Jonson  ?    The 
groat  body  of  rca<lors  couiprc'hcn<lod  him  then,  and  compre- 
hend him  now  ;  and  many,  not  without  good  reason,  suppose 
that  ho  has  no  ei|ual  as  a  dramatic  poet.      But,  perhaps,  the 
logical  point  of  tlie  above  writer  consists  in  a  man's  being  a 
master  only  in  proportion  to  the  difficulty  of  understanding 
him.      It   certainly   has    taken   a   liundred   commentators   to 
elucidate  Shoksjjcare,  where  scarcely  one  has  been  neo<led  to 
tell  .IS  what  the  un<lcfilcd   English  of  Junson  means.      Even 
Milton  studied  .J.Mison's  styU^  intently  as  the  most  pei'foct  of 
any  ihon  existing  in  the  English  language. 

The  lingular  and  pertinacious  endeavors  of  Pope  to  worK. 
out  a  ."-n^tiiious  literary  reputation  for  Shakspeare,  by  declar- 
ing that  'ic  must  necessarily  have  beoii  well  versed  in  classic 
lori\  iind  c'.ting  the  authors  which  he  miist  hav(^  read  to  pro- 
duce some  (.'  li'.s  plays,  is  tlius  summarily  and  conclusivel\ 
disj)ose<l  of  bv  .le  writer  iu  Lardner  :  ''  All  this,""  he  says, 
"  shows,  what  n^--  Hd  not  ex|)eet  to  find  in  Pitpv,  namely,  on 
almost  Off  ire  ii'-'>>r''iHc  of  our  <ar/t/  litrrdfurc'''' — whence, 
in  fact,  the  plays  .v?)  •»  mostly  derived,  sometimes  Avithout 
alteration  or  emendatl  >n. 

Byron,  it  appears,  retarded   the   Shakspeare  mania  as  a 
Bort  of  periodical  epidemic 


THU  KUMAnil/E.  Ul>     lACtlTIAU. 


"To  be,  or  not  to  be  !    That  is  the  question," 
Says  Shakspeare,  who, J i(st  iioir,  is  much  in  fashion! 

Byron  had  not  read  Plato  in  the  ori<;inal,  or  ho  would  have 
Bubstitutcd  that  philosophor's  name  fur  Shakspearo's,  perhaps. 
"  To  speak  the  laii;;iia<];e  of  Shakspeare,"  is  a  common 
expression.  That  expression,  applied  to  Americans,  Avas 
uttered  bj  our  minister  in  Kin;Ianil  on  the  occasion  of  a  pub- 
lic dinner  at  Avhich  lie  was  a  ^uest.  The  words  used  were 
that  the  "Americans  speak  the  lan;^uaf];c  of  Shakspeare  ;" 
intended,  doubtless,  to  convey  the  idea  that  we  speak  the 
En<;lish  in  its  purity.  But,  under  favor,  he  did  tis  p-eat 
injustice,  and  heaped  upon  us  an  ef;re;rious  wrontr;  lor  who- 
ever speaks  the  lan*ruajre  wliich  Shakspeare  used,  speaks  in 
the  lan2;ua<^e  of  the  Five  P(»ints  or  of  the  obscene  Fishwumcn 
of  Kntjland.  If,  how(>ver,  he  had  said  that  Americans  sp«'ak 
the  lan;»iiarro  of  "^  Hare  Hen  .buisou,"  he  would  have  <xiv«Mi  us 
the  idea  <»f  perfect  i)urity  <>i  styli>  and  ele;rane<>  of  dictiou, 
Ben  never  dcscendrd  IVom  the  hiirh  position  of  a  truo  jioet, 
except,  perhaps  to  utt<'r  s»)nie  inveetive  like  tlio  foiluw  iiii;. 

Hear  liim,  in  tin-  n.ost  pottieal  and  iiidi;rnant  words,  while 
he  speaks  of  the  stolen  wares  of  his  vul^rar  eotc'iiiporarv  fr<.>m 
Stratford  : 

I  ran  ajiprove 

Tlie  state  of  jiofsy,  such  a-*  if  is, 

Blcsseil,  etrrnal,  and  most  true  tlivine: 

Indc«'il,  if  you    will  look  on  poesy, 

As  she  :i|i|ie.Uh  in  ni;iii\.  |ini)r  .nui  lame, 

PalchM  ii|i  III  iciiiiiaiit'-  ami  old  uoiii-niil  iai;s, 

llaif--larv  (I   lor  want  ol    her  peculiar  lood, 

Sacred  linrntinn  ;  then  I  must  conlirm 

Both  your  cc  nceit  and  "ensure  ot   her  merit  : 


VOVAUK  THL  FlttST. 


But,  view  her  in  her  plorious  ornaments, 

Attireil  in  all  the  majesty  <'t  art, 

Set  hiph  in  spirit  with  tlie  preriuiis  taste 

Of  sweet  ]ihiloso|ihy  ;   and.  winch  is  most, 

Crown'd  w  ilh  the  lich  traditions  ot  a  soul 

Tlial  hates  lo  have  her  disriiily  profaned 

With  any  reli*-h  ol  an  eartiily  thought, 

O,  then.  Iiow  proinl  a  presence  <hitl»  she  hear ! 

Then  she  is  like  hersell,  lit  to  he  seen 

Of  none  Imt  j^rave  and  ronsecraleil  eyes. 

Nur  IS  ii  any  iileniish  to  Ikt  lame, 

That  «nch  lean,  ifriiorant,  and  blasted  wits. 

Such  hrain'i'-s  trulls,  should  iitf'-r  their  .stolen  wares 

AVith  such  applaii-es  in  our  vulijar  ears; 

Or  that  then  slulihercd  lines  have  current  pass 

From  the  fat  juilirmenls  of  the  multituile  ; — 

But  that  this  barren  and  inUrted  a^e 

Should  set  IK)  dill'-reiire  twixt  these  empty  spirits 

And  a  Inn'  ]>o(  t  :  — ihaii  wlii<  li  icvereiid  name 

Nothiii:;  can  more  adorn  humanity. 

O,  ravf  Ikn  Jun.sun  !  Can  iiny  one  <loulit  that  "  Big  Ben" 
meant  Shaksjx'aiv,  that  snialhst  ot"  poeta.stcrs,  in  the.^e  hi.s 
fofeihh"  anil  niaiilv  ccnsnrt's  ?  'I'hc  gfcatrst  dramatic  poet  of 
IjiL'hiii'l,  spcakiiiLT  <d'  tho  nuancsl  an<l  the  h'ast  ! 

*•  Of  Shnks]((>avf"s  nigral  «  harai-tcr  wi-  know  nothing',"  pays 
the  (N-niiii' ntator.  an<l  then  shortly  inf"rnis  ns  that  ho  kejit  a 
fiiisti-f-s  ill  Lojiil.iii.  Ill  fact  hi-  iii'Vrr  went  l)aek  hut  twice 
to  Slratloril  to  sc-  l.is  wi!"r,  (Aniir  llatha'.\ay,  wlio  was  ei;jrlit 
years  <il"hr  than  hinisclt.)  v. hunt  ln'  nianinl  vhcn  lie  was 
«'i':;htc'en.  The  .^anic  writer  then  asks  the  fullowin^  •(ne?tion — 
to  whiih  he  ajtplies  an  answer  of  un«|in'stionahh'  truth  : — 

"  Ihit  is  there  nothiiiLr  in  tlio  w<;>rks  of  this  celehratcJ  man 


THE  ROMANCE  OF  VACHTIN'O. 


to  justify  the  suspicion  of  immorality  1  Wlioevcr  has  looked 
into  the  original  editions  of  his  dramas,  will  he  disgusted 
with  the  obscenity  of  his  allusions.  They  absolutely  teem 
xoith  the  grossest  impurities — inore  gross  by  far  than  can 
be  found  in  any  cotemporary  dramatist.-^ 

Another  writer  says,  and  with  equal  truth,  that  Shak- 
apeare's  obscenity  exceeds  that  of  all  the  dramatists  that 
existed  before  him,  and  cotempDraJieonsly  with  him  ;  and  he 
might  have  included  all  that  ever  came  after  him.  This  was 
the  secret  of  his  success  with  the  play-goers.  The  plays  ho 
purchased  or  obtained  surreptitiously,  which  became  his 
"  property,"  and  which  are  now  called  his,  were  never  set 
upon  the  stage  in  their  original  state.  They  were  first 
ppiccd  with  obscenity,  l)lackguardism  and  impinities,  before 
they  were  produced  ;  an<l  this  business  he  voluntarily 
assumed,  and  faithfully  did  lie  pcrfirni  his  sliiire  of  tlie  man- 
agi-ment  in  flmt  respect.  It  brought  //mniy  to  the  house. 
No  v.tinder  the  ''  Lord  M.iyer  and  the  ( 'iti/eii.>"  wisliecl  to 
*'  avoid  "  the  phMy-hous(>  in  which  he  was  eonceriied. 

Whalhy  s|»eaks  of  Shaksjteare's  "  n'innrknhic  tnodrsty.^'' 
But  (Jiflbrd,  the  best  critic  Kngland  ever  had,  c>bserves,  *"  j/t 
shall  hi   (it  It  loss  to  tlisrovrr  /.'." 

"His  oden^ive  nutaph<'is  and  allu^ioii^,"  says  Sti-evens, 
"are  undoubtedly  more  frequent  than  those  ol'  all  his  prede- 
cessors iir  enfeniporarii's/^ 

His  profanity  is  thus  notieid  by  (lifl'ord — "  He  i<,  in  truth, 
the  CoryplKvus  of  jn-'ranatinu." 

"  All  hi'j  sonnets  jire  lieciiti<tns,"  says  another,  and  quotes 
the  libidinous  lines  to  his  mistress. 

Many  of  the  plays  attributed    by  the  moderns  to  Shak- 


VOTAOE  THE  FIRST. 


spcare  were  acted  at  a  rival  Theatre,  of  which  Old  Ilcnslowe 
was  treasurer  or  proprietor.  A  most  sin^ijular  discovery  of 
facts,  tending  positively  to  disprove  the  authorship  of  Shak- 
spearc  to  several  of  the  dramas  imputed  to  him,  is  found  in 
llcnslowc's  Diary.  It  was  discovered  but  a  few  years  ago, 
(1S4"),)  and  is  now  in  possession  of  the  Shakspeare  society  of 
London,  but  is  the  ))ropcrty  of  Dulwich  college.  The 
orthography  of  Honslowe  is  exceedingl}'  ''  cramp" — but  it  is 
sufllcient  evidence  to  be  brouglit  into  court.  Its  date  runs 
from  1 ')i»l  to  ItJOO.  The  name  of  Shakspeare  is  not  men- 
tioned therein,  while  those  of  nearly  all  tlie  writers  of  mark 
of  tliat  day  are  repeatedly  tipokcn  of.  I  have  extracted  sev- 
eral passages  from  it. 

"■  If  Shakspeare,"  observes  the  commentator  in  Lardner, 
"•  liad  liltlv  of  what  the  world  calls  learning,  he  had  less  of 
invention,  so  far  us  reganls  the  fa)»les  of  his  plays.  For 
every  one  of  thrin  tic  iras  iiuhbted  to  n  prercdin<x  /)/crr." 

1.  Ttie  Two  (ientlfnu  n  of  Virona. — The  writer  of  this 
play  is  indebted  for  many  of  its  incidents  to  two  works,  the 
Areadia  of  Sydney,  ami  the  Diana  of  Montemayor  :  the 
latter  work  translated  int<>  Kngli^h  during  the  latter  part  of 
tlie  l<U!i  eentuvv.  By  some  commentators  this  drama  is  held 
nnt  t..  lie  Sliak-peare"<.  The  commentator  adds,  "■  we  should 
bv  no  111' ans  con'eiid  t'.at  lie  wrote  the  v.hole,  or  even  the 
greater  pait  ol"  tiii<  il:Miua.  During  the  earlier  years  of  his 
profe-^siona.l  eareer,  lie  ratlier  improved  the  inventions  of 
others  tlian  invt-nted  himself.  It  was  easier  for  him  to 
remodel  old  pieces,  than  to  write  new  ones.  Hence  the 
reproach  of  Greene  that  he  was  beautified  by  the  feathers  of 
others." 


THE  ROMANCE  OP  TACHTINO. 


2.  The  Comedy  of  Errors. — Whoever  wrote  this  play 
was  indebted  to  the  Menoechmi  of  Plautus,  which  was  trans- 
lated into  English  some  years  before  Shakspeare  left  Strat- 
ford. Yet  whether  Shakspeare  (if  he  is  the  author)  was 
immediately  indebted  to  it,  or  to  a  Comedy  founded  upon  it, 
entitled  the  "  History  of  Error,"  and  performed  before  Queen 
Elizabeth  in  1576,  is  doubtful.  It  is  supposed  he  did  no 
more  than  slightly  retouch  the  old  comc<ly  ;  and  some  com- 
mentators reject  the  play  as  being  Shakspeare's  altogother. 
"  He  retouched  it,"  says  one,  "  probably  at  the  recjuost  of 
the  manager  !"  This  commentator  has  hit  the  fact  exactly, 
not  only  in  regard  to  this  play  but  to  all  the  others  attrib- 
uted to  him,  except  perhaps  one,  "The  Merry  Wives  of 
Windsor,",  which  is  probably  Shakspeare's  from  its  obscene 
"internal  evidence."  In  a  note  at  the  bottom  of  the  page 
where  some  of  the  above,facts  arc  stated,  the  following  words 
appear : 

"  Six  old  plays,  on  which  Shakspeare  founded  his  Measure 
for  M^'asuro,  Comedy  of  Err<u-s,  Taming  the  Shrow,  King 
John,  King  Henry  IV.,  King  Henry  V\,  King  Leiir." 

3.  Love''s  Labor  Lost. — "  We  rend  of  an  old  play  of //o/o- 
/prwtfA-,  acted  before  the  Princess  Elizabeth  as  early  as  l')o6  ; 
and  on  this  the  comedy  before  us  was  based.  In  fact  there 
is  no  one  drama  of  our  author  prior  to  IGOO,  perhaps  not  one 
after  that  year,  that  was  not  derived  from  some  other  play  '" 
"  During  the  earlier  years  of  his  dramatic  career  he  did  little 
more  than  alter  a  piece  that  had  become  obsolete." 

4.  The  Merchant  of  Venice. — This  play  was  derived 
partly  from  the  Pecorone  of  Giovanni  Fiorentino  ;  partly 
from  the  Gesta    Romanorum,    an    old    Etiglish  ballad,  and 


VOYAGE  THE  FIRST. 


Marlowe's  Jew  of  Malta.  In  Gosson's  School  of  Altusc, 
published  as  early  as  loTi',  there  iw  a  distinct  allusion  to  a 
play  containiuf^  the  characteristic  incidents  in  this  Merchant 
of  Venice. 

/).  .^  Midsummer  J\^if^ht''s  Dream. — The  fable  of  this 
play  is  not  now  considered  Slinkspcare's.  Mr.  Tyrwhitt  sup- 
poses one  part  of  it  to  he  taken  from  the  Pluto  and  Proserpina 
of  Chaucer  :  hut  Greene \s  James  the  Fourth  is  doubtless  the 
foundation  of  the  play  ;  and  both  (.'haucer  and  (Jrecne  are 
supposed  to  have  had  Home  common  current  le;];end  of  the 
day  from  which  they  derive<l  their  materials. 

H.  T/ie  Tninhifr  of  the  S/irew. — This  play  is  founded 
entirely  on  an  old  ('oin«'dy  of  the  same  name,  inserted  in  the 
published  book  of  the  ""  Six  Old  Plays/'  which  existed  before 
the  day  of  Shakspeare. 

7.  Honieo  and  Julie/. — the  story  of  this  play  was  first 
related  by  a  novelist  of  Vicenza,  as  early  as  I't'A'i.  It  also 
formed  the  subject  of  a  novel  of  Biuuli-Jio,  ]»i'iiit(Ml  in  l.'hA. 
Bristcau,  a  French  novelist,  soon  ;^avo  it  a  I'reiich  form  ; 
and  lirook«',  in  1. ')•»:>,  transferred  it  into  KntjUsh  verse. 
Painter,  also,  in  tln^  Palace  of  Pleasiire,  took  his  story  of 
Kliomeo  Mild  .Iiilicttn  fiom  the  l-'reneli,  and  not  from  the 
Italian  ni>v<l.  The  writer  of  '*  Sliak>peare's''  Konieo  an<l 
Juliet  followed  Hrooke,  but  availed  biniself  of  some  thiiif^s 
from  Painter.  W'itliall  this  knowledi^e  before  one  commen- 
tator, who  is  determined  to  hear  iiothin;^  a<xainst  the 
''jrenius"  cf  "the  bard,"  he  says — " 'I'lie  ;:enins  of  Shak- 
speare cannot  suffer  from  the  fact  that  he  borrowctl  the  foun- 
dati.in  of  all  liis  ))!uts.  What  others  left  unfinished,  he 
perfected  :   he  tuni<  (1  the  .Iross   (.f  others  into  fine  ^old."      I 


THE  ROMANCE  OF  TACHTINO. 


am  forced  to  the  opinion  that  he,  or  the  one  who  wrote  the 
play  in  question,  took  the  gold  itself,  "  more  suo,"  without 
resort  to  the  process  of  transmutation  by  the  crucible  of  his 
*' genius." 

8.  Jis  You  Like  It. — This  play  has  no  greater  originality 
than  the  preceding.  It  is  taken  from  a  novel  of  Thomas 
Lodge,  entitled  liosalinde.  The  "  crow  in  borrowed  feath- 
ers," spoken  of  by  Greene,  refers  to  this  piracy  as  well  as  to 
others.  "  Shakspearc,"  says  Malone,  "  has  followed  Lodge's 
novel  more  exactly  than  is  his  general  custom."  "  Whole 
sentences,  besides  the  plot,  are  taken  from  it." 

9.  Much  Jldo  about  A^ot/iing. — The  original  is  from  Ari- 
osto  ;  but  Shakspeare  knew  nothing  of  Italian,  and  it  is 
therefore  to  be  presumed  that  this  play  is  written  by  some 
other  hand.  A  novel  of  Belleforest,  translated  from  Ban- 
dello,  contains  the  same  story  of  the  play,  and  in  default  of 
a  reference  to  these,  the  Genevra  of  Tubcrvillo  could  well 
furnish  the  material.  The  story  is  an  old  one  ;  and  drama- 
tising a  novel,  using  the  materials  freely,  was  as  commoji  a 
thing  then  as  now.  But  who  at  thi.<  day  thinks  of  claiming 
credit,  or  laying  claim  to  ''  genius"  for  such  paltry  "  literary 
fishery  ?" 

10.  Hamht. — Willi  the  exception  of  the  grave-digger's 
scene,  inserted  to  catch  the  groundings,  wliich  may  possibly 
be  the  production  of  the  "  genius  of  Shakspeare,"  this  ])lav 
owes  its  paternity  elsewhere.  The  foundation  of  llanilft  is 
notoriously  to  l)e  foiiii'l  in  S;i\o  (iiaiiiiiiaticMis,  whirh  Sbak- 
ppearo  could  not  read,  notwillistanding  Mr.  ]\>pe  supposes 
he  must  have  been  a  great  scholar.  If  lie  urote  llanilet, 
Pope  was  probably  near  the  truth  ;  and  it  is  upon  the  sup- 


VOrAOE  THE  FmST. 


position  that  he  wrote  all  the  plays  attributed  to  him,  that 
Pope  says  he  must  have  been  conversant  with  the  classics, 
familiar  with  Plautus,  Dares  Phrygius,  and  Plutarch,  and 
he  might  have  added  Plato.  What  confiding  men  biogra- 
phers and  historians  are,  when  they  have  a  favorite  theory  to 
carry  out !  In  addition  to  a  printed  story  called  The  llistwie 
of  Hamblet  then  extant,  there  was  a  play  called  Hamlet, 
(acted  as  early  as  l.")^!>  ;)  and  another  play  of  Hamlet  was 
also  acted  at  a  rival  Theatre  in  London,  in  the  year  1504,  at 
which  old  Ilenslowe  was  treasurer.  His  entry  is  thus  : — 
"  Received  at  Hamlet  VHI  s."  A  poor  night's  receipts, 
that  !  Shakspearc  proltably  got  this  play  afterwards,  and 
inserted  the  grave-di^rijer's  scene  to  reiuler  it  popular  with 
the  play-goers.  That  was  his  vocation.  At  any  rate  the 
Rolilofjiiy  of  "  To  be  or  not  be,''  is  a  literal  translation  from 
Plato,  and  ju<lging  from  that,  and  the  deep  philosophy  of  tlio 
whole  piece,  (always  excepting  the  Shaks])earian  blot  upon 
it,)  it  nmst  have  been  the  creation  of  an  educated  man,  which 
Shakspearc  was  not.  It  is  probal)ly  a  partnership  concern. 
The  only  man  of  that  day,  of  poetical  power  suflicii'nt  to 
write  the  higiier  parts  of  this  tragedy,  was  Ben.  Jonsoiiy  the 
greatest  Dramatic  Poet  England  ever  produced.  Langhorne, 
in  his  prefjxce  to  Plutarch,  refevring  to  the  time  of  Shak- 
spearc, says — ''  The  celebrated  solilo(|uy,  '  To  be  or  not  to 
be,'  is.takrn  almost  verbatim  from  that  philosopher,  (Plato) ; 
yet  we  have  never  found  that  Plato  was  translated  in  those 
times." 

11.  The  Merry  Wives  of  Windsor. — If  any  play  of  the 
whole  catalogue  is  Shakspeare's,  this  comes  nearest  the  mark. 
The   impress  of  his  vulgar  and   impure  mind  is  ujjou  every 


THE  JIOMANCL  OF  YACHTINO 


page.  Tradition  asserts  tliat  it  was  composed  at  the 
express  command  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  who  "  wished  to  see 
Falstaff  in  love."  It  is  probaMv,  like  all  the  other  traditions 
relating  to  the  "  genius"  of  Shakspeare,  without  foundation, 
except  in  the  brain  of  his  admiring  commentators.  But  he 
has  no  originality  even  in  this  revolting  piece  of  trash.  The 
author  was  intlobted  to  a  translation  of  Pccorino,  and  to 
'J'arleton\s  News  out  of  Purgatory,  for  his  jilot  and  incidents  ; 
ami  his  iSV;-  John  Falstajf\^  the  Sir  Jo/in  Oldiustlr  o't  Dray- 
ton, Wilson,  Munday  and  Hathaway. 

12.  Troilus  and  ('/■cssiiln. — Wliocver  wrote  tliis  play 
took  the  plot  ami  materials  from  the  Italian,  and  from 
Chaucer,  anil  from  Lydgate's  Hoke  of  Trove.  'I'ho  arthor- 
ship  is  settled  l)y  an  entry  in  llenslowe's  Diary  on  the  Tth  of 
April,  l.")'.!'.!,  in  these  words  ;  '"  Lmf  \nito  TItninns  Doi.  iifon, 
to  Irndr  unto  .Mr.  I)i(/,t'rs  and  /nircf/  c/n'otr//,  in  ran  rstc  of 
thrir  boockc  callid  Troj/c/cs  and  ('riasscdaye^  the  some  of 
iij  //.■' 

I'}.  Aicasurc  for  .\U  nsiirc. — Founded  on  and  taken  from 
\Vlietst(tne"s  play  of  Pninins  ami  Cassandra,  one  of  the '' Six 
Old  J^lays"  already  relerred  to. 

14.  Othdio. —  Was  derive'l  entirely  from  the  Italian  of 
one  of  Cinthio'rt  novels  :  but  as  Shakspeare  knew  nothing  of 
Italian,  even  the  translation  could  not  be  his,  independent  of 
tlie  structure  of  the  play.  A  French  translati<m  appeared 
in  \.tS\  ;  but  of  the  French  Shakspeare  was  as  ignorant  as 
of  the  Flalian. 

li.  hinr  Lar. — 'IIm^  story  of  Lear  is  drawn  from 
(ieoflrey  ofMonmouth  ;  but  the  play  is  one  of  the  "  Six  Old 
Play»,"   to   which    something    was  contributed    by   way   of 


VOYAOE  THE  nRST. . 


amendment,  perhaps,  from  the  Arciidia,  and  the  Mirror  of 
Mn^iKtratos.  Henslowc  had  the  \)\a.y  at  his  Theatre,  as  is 
evident  from  an  entry  in  his  hook  :  "  8</i  of  JlprH\,  lolU, 
received  at  h'infr  Icare  XXV'I  .v."  It  is  therefore  not 
Shakspeare's — for  he  had  no  interest  in  tlie  rival  phiy- 
hoi'se,  and  Henslowc  must  have  owned  the  play  as  his 
*'  property." 

1<).  Jiir.f  well  that  ends  wel/. — May  he  found  in  Boccaceio. 
Ill  Painter's  Palace  of  Pleasure  the  story  is  called  Giletta  of 
Niirbon.  This  ])lay  uiay  have  been  anion;^  the  "properties" 
of  thi-  Tiu'titre  to  whieh  Sh:iks|)care  was  attached,  upon  the 
sup])res.siim  of  that  dramatic  nuisance,  hy  tlie  Lord  '"  Mayor 
and  citizens."'  'ilie  ordy  wonder  is  that  Hetterton  and  Rowe, 
in  getting  up  their '^'Shakspeare  speculation,"  did  not  give 
us  a  se<'niid  seri«'s  of  a  like  iiiiiid>cr  of  i»I:iys  while  they  were 
about  it,,  and  call  them  new  discoveries.  Who  does  not 
renu-mber  the  '■'  Shakspeare  for;^eries,"  of  Ireland,  which 
deceived   the  very  elect  ! 

17.  .Market li. — The  iiici<lents  of  the  story,  founded  on 
Scottish  history,  are  all  in  Hector  Boece  ;  "  but  of  Hector," 
observes  one  critic,  ''  Shakspt-are  knew  as  much  as  he  ditl  of 
llesiod."  Could  he  ri-iid  I  lesiod,  think  you?  The  writer 
of  the  play  jirobably  consulted  Hollinshed  for  a  n;uide. 
Buchanan  thuM;,dit  the  subject  a  fit  one  for  the  sta;>;e,  and 
some  of  the  "  wits"  <»f  the  day  took  hi^  hint  and  produced  it. 
Part  of  thi:;  plav,  is  bi)rri>wed  fmm  Miildleton's  proiluction 
entitled  The  Witch.  So  says  Steevens,  or  rather  he  says 
the  ''  })ard  of  Avon"  was  not  the  ori;:inator. 

IH.  Tirelft/t  .!\'ifr/if. —  Dcriveil  renintely  from  the  Italian 
of  Bandello     and    niMve   iiiiin«Mliattlv    from    Belleforest :   and 


THE  ROMANCE  OF  YACHTTNO. 


partly  from  The  Historie  of  Appolonius  and  Silla,  a  tale  in 
the  collection  of  Bamaby  Riche. 

19.  Julius  Cesar. — From  Plutarch,  inaccessible  to  Shak- 
speare's  "genius."  He  could  not  read  it  in  the  original, 
nor  in  the  French  translation  of  it  by  Amiot.  The  Earl  of 
Stirling  had  already  written  a  tragedy  of  that  title.  The 
Julius  Cesar  attributed  to  Shakspeare  is  undoubtedly  the 
following,  as  noticed  by  old  Hcnslowe,  the  theatrical  trea- 
surer :  "  22d  of  May,  1002.  Lent  unto  the  Companyc  to 
geve  unto  Antoney  Monday  and  Mikcll  Drayton,  Wcbester, 
Mydelton,  and  the  Rest,  in  earneste  of  a  Boockc  called  severs 
Falle,  the  some  of  V  //."  It  is  possible  that  Shakspeare's 
managers  purchased  this  play,  and  set  it  upon  their  stage. 

20.  Antony  and  Cleopatra. — The  foundation  of  tliis  play 
is  derived  from  the  same  sources  as  Julius  Cesar — namely, 
the  classic  historians.  There  were  two  tragedies  in  being 
when  the  above  was  produced  ;  one  callc<l  Antony,  by  Lady 
Pembroke,  and  the  other  Cleopatra,  by  Daniel.  Both  Dan- 
iel and  her  ladyship  were  indebted  to  a  translation  ofCar- 
nier,  whose  tragedy  had  great  cclo))rity.  The  writer  of 
Antony  and  Cleopatra,  is  greatly  indebted  to  all  three  of  the 
above-named  authors. 

21.  Cymbcline. — This  play  is  derived  from  three  sources, 
a  novel  of  Boccaccio,  an  English  tale  called  Westward-  for 
Smelts,  and  Geoffrey's  British  Chronicle.  Tlie  common  riTuark 
of  the  commentators,  when  a  poor  thing  turns  up,  which  is 
said  to  })e  Shakspeare's,  is  a  sereotype  phrase.  Here  is  one: 
"  Cymbcline  is  a  poor  drama,  and  perhaps  one  that  Shaks- 
peare did  not  compose,  but  nirn-ly  iinj)roved  !''     Very  likely. 

22.  Timon  of  Athens. — The  commentator  Bays  this  play 


VOYAGE  THE  FIRST. 


is  of  the  "  same  stamp"  as  the  foregoing.  "  It  was  certainly 
indebted  to  a  former  tragedy  of  the  name,  never  printed,  but 
■well  known  in  MS.  The  incidents  are  taken  from  Painter's 
Palace  of  Pleasure,  and  Plutarch." 

23.  Coriolanus. — This  play  is  also  derived  from  Plutarch. 
It  is  therefote  none  of  Shakspeare's — not  because  it  was 
derived  from  Plutarch,  but  because  it  must  have  been  written 
by  some  writer  of  classic  mind  and  education,  who  could  look 
into  tiie  original.  It  is  as  far  beyond  Shakspeare's  powers 
as  Hamlet.  Shakspeare  was  a  vulgar  and  unlettered  man — 
or  his  commentators  and  biographers  belie  him  in  their  facts. 
What  they  suppose,  is  another  thing. 

24.  The  IViyiter's  Tale. — The  paternity  of  this  play  be- 
longs to  Robert  Greene  ;  the  obscenity  tc  Shakspeare.  The 
commentator,  seeing  that  the  play  is  unworthy  of  a  passing 
thought,  except  unmitigated  contempt,  says  "  it  is  unworthy 
of  Shakspeare's  genius."  He  is  wrong  there,  it  smells  of  his 
"genius"  all  over.  "The  substance  of  it,"  lie  continues, 
"  must  have  appeared  in  some  earlier  drama." 

25.  The  Tempest. — Founded  on  an  Italian  novel  ;  and  on 
Robert  Greene's  Alphonsus.  The  commentator  says  "  there 
is  more  invention  in  this  piece  than  in  any  other  that  Shak- 
speare has  k'ft  us."  Doubtless — but  Shakspeare  was  no 
inventor,  nor  did  ho  write  this  piece,  though  he  may  have  had 
it  among  his  "  properties." 

2G.  Kinrr  John. — Founded  on  a  f«n-nier  play  of  that  name, 
and,  in  fact,  written  by  Rowley.  If  it  was  ever  the  "  prop- 
erty" of  Shakspeare,  he  paid  the  usual  fee  for  it,  to  wit  "  from 
5  to  10/."  It  is  founded  on  one  of  the  "  Six  Old  Plays"  of 
that  name. 


THE  ftOMANCX  OF  TACMTINO. 


2Y.  Richard  II. — There  was  a  play  of  this  title,  which  id 
referred  to  by  Camden,  long  prior  to  the  time  of  Shakspeare. 
The  commentator  gives  this  play  up  also,  thus :  "  probably 
Shakspeare  did  no  more  than  alter  the  one  already  in  posses- 
sion of  the  stage.  This  supposition  is  confirmed  by  internal 
evidence.  It  is  decidedly  inferior  to  some  of  his  other  his- 
torical plays ;  and  the  manner  seems  to  be  difterent."  As 
to  "  manner,"  all  of  the  serios  may  be  said  to  differ  from 
each  other  ;  they  were  all  written  by  different  hands. 

28.  Henry  IV. — "  The  two  parts  of  Henry  IV.  were  cer- 
t*inly  founded  on  preceding  dramas :  the  old  play  of  The 
famous  Victories  of  King  Henry  V.,  which  appeared  in  1519, 
furnished  our  author  with  many  of  his  characters  and  inci- 
dents ;  and  secondly,  the  play  of  Sir  John  Oldcastle."  Thus 
much  for  the  confession  of  the  critic.  Fuller  says,  "  Stage 
poets  have  been  very  bold  with,  and  others  very  sorry  at  the 
memory  of  Sir  John  Oldcastle,  whom  they  have  fancied  a 
boon  companion,  a  jovial  royster,  and  a  coward  to  boot.  The 
best  is,  Sir  John  Falstaff  has  relieved  the  memory  of  Sir  John 
Oldcastle,  and  of  late  is  substituted  l)ufrt>on  in  his  place." 
The  play  of  Sir  John  Oldcastle,  refeiTcd  to  before,  was 
printed  and  claimed  as  one  of  ShakHpcarc'H,  with  as  much 
pertinacity  as  the  rest ;  but  was  withdrawn  and  given  up  to 
the  owners,  Drayton  and  company,  notwithstanding  the  "  in- 
ternal evidence  of  Shakspeare \s  genius"  with  which  it  was 
thought  to  be  imbued.  Let  FalwtafT  change  his  name  to 
Oldcastle,  and  he  is  no  lunger  Sliakspeare's.  Oli,  those 
"  Six  Old  Plays  !  "  "  Sir  Juhn  Oldcastle  "  ceased  to  receive 
encomium,  as  soon  as  it  ceased  to  be  claimed  for  Siiak^poare. 

29.  King  Henry  V. — Founded,  by  universal  couoeesion, 


VOYAOE  TH£  »IR«T. 


on  preceding  dramas  with  the  same  title.  Nash  refers  to  one 
as  early  as  1.392,  well  known  on  the  stage,  which  had  been 
represented  prior  to  1588.  In  1594  was  another — "  probably 
the  same."  Several  others  appeared  afterwards.  In  the 
"  Six  Old  Plays  "  there  is  a  drama  with  the  same  title,  "  pro- 
bably the  one  to  which  Nash  alluded."  Hen^lowe  records 
having  ^^  received  at  hary  the  K.,"  several  sums  of  consider- 
able amount,  on  its  ropresentation  at  his  theatre.  That  fact 
alone  is  quite  sufficient  to  show  that  it  was  none  of  Sbak- 
speare's. 

30.  King  Henry  VI. — "  The  three  parts  of  King  Henry 
VI.  were  assuredly  not  the  work  of  Shakspeare,  though  he 
retouched  all  of  them,  except,  perhaps  the  first,"  so  says  his 
commentator.  They  were  founded  on  the  old  dramas  of  the 
"  First  part  of  the  Contention  of  the  two  Houses  of  Yorke 
and  Lancaster ;"  and  the  "  True  Tragedy  of  Richard  Duke 
of  York,  and  the  Death  of  good  King  Henry  the  Sixth." 
The  former  of  these  old  dramas  was  printed  in  1594,  and  the 
latter  in  1595,  but  both  were  represented  long  before.  To 
dreene,  Peele  and  Marlowe,  their  authorship  is  attributed. 
Hence  Greene's  expression,  on  his  dying  bed,  already  refcn-ed 
to,  in  his  letter  to  Marlowe,  Lodge  and  Peele,  of  "  upstart 
crow  beautified  with  our  feathers,"  and  a  parodied  (juotation 
from  the  First  Part  of  the  Contention  of  the  two  Houses, 
"  O  tiger's  heart,  wrapt  in  a  player's  hide !  "  Shakspeare  had 
used  their  plays  probably  without  paying  for  them,  "more 
suo,"  and  they  still  form  part  of  Shakspeare's  list  of  plays ; 
at  least  his  editors  still  print  them  as  such. 

31.  King  Richard  HI. — This  great  drama,  one  that  has 
kept  the  st&ge  longest  and  with  the  greatest  popularity,  seems 


THE  ROMANCE  OF  YACHTINO. 


to  be  given  up  vithout  a  struggle,  notwithstanding  the  "  in- 
ternal evidence."  "Here,"  the  commentator  says,  "  Shak- 
speare  had  also  prior  dramas  before  him.  Some  of  them  are 
enumerated  in  the  last  edition  of  Malono  by  BoswcU  :  and  a 
mutilated  copy  of  one,  which  our  dramatist  had  certainly  in 
view,  is  printed  in  the  19th  volume  of  that  laborious  work." 
Henslowo  has  this  entry  in  his  diary  :  '■'■  Lent  unto  bcjijaiyiy 
Johnsone,  in  earneste  of  a  Boocke  called  Richard  crookbakc, 
and  for  new  adicyons  for  Jeronyme,  the  some  of  X  /*"." 
It  should  be  remembered,  however,  that  the  playing  copy  of 
Richard,  now  used,  is  greatly  altered  from  the  original.  All 
the  most  striking  and  beautiful  passages  arc  the  work  of 
modern  hands.  Garrick  first  undertook  to  romodol  it,  and 
several  professional  hands  have  since  boon  at  work  at  it. 
Indeed  this  is  the  case  with  all  the  "  Shakspeare"  acting 
dramas.  The  originals,  with  their  obsolete  and  obscene  de- 
fects and  blemishes,  would  not  be  tolerated  for  a  moment  upon 
the  present  Knglish  or  American  stage.  The  authors  that 
wrote  tliem  originally,  could  not,  by  any  possibility,  recognise 
them  in  the  present  text. 

32.  Kinff  Henry  \  III. — It  has  heretofore  boon  believed, 
upon  pretty  good  gruunds,  that  Rowley  was  autli<^r  of  this 
play,  or  at  loast  funiislu-d  tlio  f  n'jidatiou  and  material  f<>r  its 
construction.  The  titlo  <>f  his  drama  is  Tlic  Famous  Chro- 
nicle History  of  King  Ilonry  the  Kiglith.  Huwloy  was 
cotomporary  with  Shakspearo.  But,  rooriilly,  a  ])artiiorsliip 
with  Howloy  in  its  autlutrsliip  has  been  (liscoNcicd.  Ilcns- 
lowr's  Diarv  lias  tin-  fullowiii;;  «tit\v  :  ".")///  .liiin.  Itidl. 
Lent  unto  SnmirtU  Rturli/c  fo  pay  ii /i/n  han/f  Chvllvll,  for 
writtinge  the  Boocke  of  Carnalt  ^Volseye  h/fr,  the  some  of 


VOYAGE  THE  FIRST. 


XX  5."  The  inferoiico  is  irrosistihle  lliat  Sliakspeare  "13  as 
innocent  of  tlie  proilnf^tion  of  this  phiy,  as  of  those  which  aro 
more  pluniply  denied  because  they  are  ""  unwortliy  of  his 
genius."  It  is  idle  to  speculate  in  the  face  of  such  positive 
testimony.  Ik-  v,as  the  mere  '""  factotum"  of  a  tlieatre-— a 
copyist  for  the  promjjter — antl  an  arraiif^er  of  the  parts  with 
the  cues  copied  out  for  the  actors  :  a  very  respoijsihlc  and 
laborious  station,  certainly — but  it  does  not  make  an  author, 
nor  give  him  any  title  to  the  authorship  of  the  pieces  lie  scti 
upon  the  stage. 

JiO.  Pericles. — The  "  bard's"  chronicler  says  that  "Peri- 
cles is  i'ortainly  not  the  offspring  of  Shakspcare's  genius. 
No  ingenuity  can  show  that  there  is  the  Irast  aflinity  between 
the  mind  which  produced  it  and  that  of  our  author.  It 
•would  disgrace  even  the  third  rate  dramatist  of  Shakspeare's 
age."  This  is  no  proof  one  way  or  the  other.  But  the 
denial  of  his  chronicler  would  seem  to  establish  the  fact,  if 
assertion  goes  for  any  thing,  that  it  was  absolutely  Shak- 
epeare's,  except  that  Sliakspeare  does  not  come  up  to  the 
level  of  a  third  rate  dramatist  of  any  age.  When  his 
admirer  asserts  that  a  play  belongs  alisolutcly  to  Sliakspeare, 
he  funis  himself  negatived  liy  ])()sitive  |)ru()f :  and  it  is  fair 
to  presume  if  there  is  the  usual  ''  internal  evidence"  of 
blackguanlism  in  Pericles,  it  is  Sliakspeare's,  or  at  least  that 
part,  which  is  thus  marked,  is  his. 

.^4.  TKus  ,'Indrouicus. — TJie  same  remarks  precisely, 
both  of  chronicler  and  underwriter,  as  above  given,  apply 
here.  This  play,  ho\\ever'  like  that  of  Pericles,  continues 
to  be  presented  as  Shakspeare's,  iMid  is  claimed  for  Shak- 
Fpeare.     The  fullowincr  entries,  however,  in  the  books  of 


THE  ROMAM'b  OK  VAdlilNC. 


rival  Theatre,  or  rather  in  old  Ilcnslowc's  diarj,  settle  tlic 
question  as  to  its  710/  being  Shakspeare's.  "  lom"  at  several 
dates,  '*  received  at  tifus  and  ondronicus^  >]{.  Hs. ; — 2/.  ; — 
XII  ^.  ; — Tjt."  The  audiences  must  have  been  slim  in  those 
days ! 

Verily  that  "  speculiUion"  of  Rowoand  Botterton  has  been 
tlie  eauso  of  ini;.'hty  coiitontion  anion;^  the  learned  comnu'iita- 
tors  of  this  n^e.  How  ninch  f^ood  Christian  ijik  has  boon 
fipent  in  writing  up  a  worthless  Pubjoet,  I  mean  Shakspeare 
in  person,  and  how  much  srholarship  and  research  have  been 
exhauste<l  to  furnish  the  means  of  sencUng  him  to  "  quod  /" 

The  (piestion  put  into  the  mouth  of  Lady  Betty's  waiting- 
luaid  in  High  Life  below  Stairs,  "  Who  wrote  Shakspeare  V 
was  laughed  at,  as  a  good  theatrical  joke,  some  3'ears  ago  ; 
but,  when  it  is  now  asked,  there  is  *"'  not  so  much  laughing 
ns  formerly."  And  the  thcMdical  j)lea.'=aiitry  of  playing  ono 
of  Shakspeare's  plays  without  speaking  a  wonl  from  Shak- 
speare, was  aotnnlly  carried  nut  by  Jolm  Kendjle,  wjio,  in 
petting  llaiiilet  upon  the  st;ig(',  left  out  t lie  grave-digger 's 
scene,  as  unworthy  of  tlie  f»lay  ;  and  tlius  th«'  play  was  played, 
and  well  played  U*<>,  doulitless,  without  a  word  being  uttere<l 
fn»m  Shakspeare — for  that  seejie  is  all  that  is  his. 

I  pon  the  same  ]>rinciple  tliat  the  Shaksjieare  series  of 
T 'ays  selected  by  Kowe  and  Bettcrton  are  called  Shakspeare's, 
niiglit  we  call  the  rar<'  old  tracts  an<l  papers  of  the  llaileiaii 
Miscellany,  the  l-'nr/  of  OxfoiuVs,  because  they  were  found 
in  his  library,  an<l  ^onie  of  tlieni  cofiicd  in  liis  liand-writing. 
If  tlu-y  had  been  buri<  d  a  ct  iitury  <»r  two,  he  ccrtaiidy  would 
■  luive  been  tln'ir  author  with  the  connnentators  of  the  calibro 
of  those,  cenerallv,  who  have  written  upon  Shakspeare. 


VOVAOK  THt  KlUsr 


About  a  century  hence,  when  our  oM  Metropolitan  Theatre 
of  the  Park  shall  be  turne<l  into  a  brewery  of  beer,  or  a  hu;^o 
nianufactory  of  some  future  Solomon's  Halm  of  Gileatl,  or 
some  lifc-preserviuj;  Panacea  of  an  unborn  Swaim,  those  who 
corae  after  us  may  fuul  its  "  properties"  barrelletl  up  and 
stowed  away  in  some  lumber  <!;arret.  'i'lien  will  some  "  s|K'C- 
ulatin^  Rowc  and  IJetterton'-  ;;loat  over  the  tons  of  plays 
ami  operas  that  have  l)ei'n  acted  in  our  day,  and  the  ehi- 
r<>;;raphy  of  our  industrious  and  respectable  Mr.  Pete; 
Rieliin;;s  will  be  recognised,  in  perhaps  an  huntlred  plays 
prepaix'd  by  him  for  the  prompter;  and  perhaps  the  music 
of  a  score  of  operas  copied  in  his  own  hajid-writinfr,  will  bj 
found  as  well.  Then  will  the  forirotten  play-writers  of  our 
day  have  a  resurrection,  and  Mr.  Kiehiii^rs  an  uncovetcd 
innnortality.  Mozart  aii«l  Jlos-ini,  too,  sunk  perhaps  in  the 
ni;;ht  of  the  intervcniii;;  J'^^e,  will  come  forth  anew,  and  the 
hand-writinrr  of  that  useful  attache  <»f  tlie  Park,  will  be 
encjuired  a])out,  and  identifinl  after  lon;^  and  indefatif^abio 
i-esearch.  Tiie  ojx'ras  and  tlie  nuinuscri])t  plays  tcill  he  his 
by  the  same  token,  and  that  ''  internal  evidence,"  (the  hand- 
wriliii;:;)  Avill  ])e  the  jiroof  by  vhich  to  test  the  identity 
and  autliorsliip  of  nil  those  cotfinpnniry  prtiductions.  Kich- 
in^s  ! — Your  fate  is  posthumous  fame,  by  this  process — and 
even  little  OlitVe,  tlie  krej)er  of  the  '"  property  room""  and 
player  of  all  the  ]>i^'-«oldier  parts,  %\ill  have  a  glorious  run 
iur  iinmurtalily  ! 


'lUv  lliivor  (tf  tli«^  Sherry  fiiriiisIuMl  nie  at  my  Posaila,  was 
tlic  liiu'st  I  t'vor  tasted.  It  Mas  aromatic.  I  carried  the 
rcmcnibraiicc  of  it  alxxit  luc  f<jr  many  days  afterwards,  ami 
"  The  scent  of  the  roses  hau^is  round  me  still."  Do  we  ever 
;ret  Ptich  Siierry  in  America  ?  I  fear  we  seldom  get  a  tasto 
<.rSt.  Petri- 

Who  <lo(>s  ii>t  remcTuher  the  Slierris-sack  of  Falstaff  ? — 
"  Giis  hniv  nu  a  [H>tflc  of  Sark  .'" 

Fai.stakk — (solu-i.)  A  jrooil  Shcriis  sack  halh  a  twofold  ojitTalion 
in  it.  It  ascends  inc  into  tlu*  brain  ;  dries  me  tliere  all  the  foolisli,  and 
lUili,  ami  rrndy  vapours  vliich  environ  it  :  makes  it  apprehensive, 
quick,  loriietive,  full  of  nimble,  fierv,  and  delectable  shapes;  which 
delivered  o'er  to  the  voice  (the  tonfjue),  which  is  the  birth,  becomes 


THE  ROMANCE  OF  YACItTIXO. 


excellent  wit.  The  second  property  of  your  excellent  Sheiris  is, — the 
•warming  of  the  blood  ;  which,  before  cold  and  settled,  left  the  liver 
white  and  pale,  which  is  the  badge  of  pusillanimity  and  cowardice  ; 
but  the  Sherris  warms  it  and  makes  it  course  from  the  inwards  to  the  parts 
extreme.  It  iliumineth  the  face  ;  wliich  as  a  beacon,  gives  warning  to 
all  the  rest  of  this  little  kingdom,  man,  to  arm  ;  and  then  the  vital 
commoners,  and  inland  petty  spirits,  muster  me  all  to  their  captain,  the 
heart;  who,  great  and  puflTed  up  with  this  retinue,  doth  any  deed  of 
courage  ;  and  this  valor  comes  of  Slrorris  :  So  that  skill  in  the  'veapon 
is  nothing,  without  Sack  ;  for  that  sets  it  awork  ;  and  learning,  a  mere 
hoard  of  gold  kept  by  a  devil,  till  Sack  commences  upon  it,  jind  sets  it 
in  act  and  use.  Hereof  comes  it  that  prince  Hal  is  valiant :  for  the 
cold  blood  he  did  naturally  inherit  of  his  father,  he  hath,  like  lean, 
steril,  and  bare  land,  manured,  husbanded  and  tilled,  with  excellent 
endeavour  of  drinking  good,  and  good  store  of  fertile  Sherris;  that  he 
'•  very  hot  and  valiant.  If  I  had  a  thousand  sons,  the  first  human 
principle  I  would  teach  them,  should  be — to  forswear  tliin  potations 
and  addict  themselves  to  Sack. 

Falstaff — Bardolph,  I  say  ! — [Enter  Bardolph] 

Bardolfh. — Here,  sir. 

Falsvaff. — Co  fetch  me  a  qiinrt  of  Sack  ;  put  a  toa'^t  in"t.  [Exit 
Bardolph,  and  he  returns  with  the  wine  ] 

Falstaff. — Come,  let  me  pour  in  some  Sack  to  this  Thames  water; 
for  my  belly's  as  cold  as  il  I  had  swallowed  snow-halls  for  pills  to 
cool  the  reins.  [Empties  the  can.]  (io  to.  knave,  titere's  Itme  tiCt  ! 
Take  away  the."«e  chalices  :  (lo  brew  mc  a  pottle  of  Sack,  finely. 

Bardolph. — With  eggs,  sir  ? 

Falstaff. — Simple,  of  itself;  I'll  no  piillot-spcrm  in  mv  lievcrage. 
[Exit  Bardolph.] 

I  am  in  tlic  land  of  Sluri  v,  and  tliereOtre  a  word  or  two 
more  about  it,  while  "  my  f<><'t  is  npun  tlic  hill."  Tlio 
quality  of  the  "  Sliorri.-^-.'^ack,"  of  the  time  of  SLak.«peare, 
upon  whose  virtues  Falstaff  so  learnedly  descants,  has  escaped 


VOVAOE  THE  FIRST. 


the  notice  of  the  commentators  ;  whereat  I  greatly  marvel, 
for  scarcely  a  passage  which  would  ailuiit  of  a  page  or  two  of 
learned  comment  has  been  suft'ered  to  explain  itself. 
Sherris-sack  is  another  name  for  dry  wine,  or  sec  ;  such,  in 
fact,  as  is  the  Sherry  of  the  present  day.  It  is  a  favorite 
wine  in  England,  introduced  there  under  the  name  of  Sack  ; 
and  the  greater  portion,  if  not  all  the  best  Sherry  is  sent 
there  from  the  wine-merchants,  formerly  of  Xeres,  but  now 
•  f  Port  St.  Mary,  where  tlieir  in^mense  vaults,  or  warehouses 
are  established  for  the  greater  convenience  of  superintending 
their  exportations.  The  allusion  to  '*  ////jr''  being  in  the 
bottom  of  the  can,  will  suflieiently  be  accounted  for  by  the 
fact  that  lime  is,  or  was,  fovinorly,  used  as  a  rectifying  bath, 
or  llux,  through  which  to  pass  the  wine  in  or<lt.r  to  deprive  it 
of  its  crude  (juailties.  The  phrase,  "  (lo  to,  knave,  there's 
lime  in't,"  is  an  interpolation  of  the  players.  I  have  not 
been  able  to  fnid  it  in  the  older  editions  of  the  p^ay. 

The"  finer  pale  Sherries  are  nearly  pure,  and  are  all  made 
from  the  Xeres  grape,  liaving  the  ailmixture  only  of  about  a 
gallon  of  brandy  to  a  butt.  The  d;irk  brown  is  made  by 
boiling  down  the  pale  Sherry  to  its  utmost  strength,  and 
mixing  this  with  the  paler  kinds  as  coloring  matter,  and  as  a 
prtv^ervative  insteail  of  brandy.  The  Amontillado  is  said  to 
be  the  driest  of  Sherries,  and  is  made  from  the  grape  plucked 
before  it  is  (piite  ripe.  It  is  also  said  to  be  the  purest, 
having  the  least  infusion  either  of  brandy  or  boiled  wine. 
The  '  burnt  Sack''  referred  to  in  the  "  Merry  Wives," — 
(•'  I'll  give  you  a  pottle  of  burnt  Sack  to  give  me  recourse  to 
liim,'')  is  nothing  more  tlian  the  brown  Sherry  of  our  own 
timp. 


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